Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

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HueyLD
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by HueyLD »

Peter,

Are you allowed to hold Fidelity accounts living in Japan? Can you buy and sell without restrictions?
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akpk
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by akpk »

surprised to read that so many other people have been having issues with vanguard customer service.....i haven't called them yet and will send them signed "updated bank designation" forms [what choice do i have :-) ] ....i am thinking i will switch my new contributions to fidelity funds with newly lowered expense ratio. I started using vanguard in 2005 i believe...it doesn't seem to be same place it used to be and unfortunately, things seems to be moving downhill pretty fast for vanguard.
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Doc
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

akpk wrote:... and unfortunately, things seems to be moving downhill pretty fast for vanguard.
No they are moving uphill - very, very slowly.

They are now getting real competition from other low cost index fund providers and others using lost leaders. Vanguard's business model "owned by our fund holders" puts constraints on there ability to shift costs from a "money making fund" to others that are less "profitable". A Schwab or a Fidelity do not have the same lack of flexibility. The result it that Vg keeps having to reduce costs and since they have always been low cost about the only place left is payroll.

I had the occasion some months ago to get info on salaries of financial CSRs in the Scottsdale area. Vanguard salaries were about the same as the wages of a union plummer in St Louis. And a plumber's apprentice gets paid while he's going to "school". Makes you stop and think.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Longdog »

Doc wrote:
akpk wrote:... and unfortunately, things seems to be moving downhill pretty fast for vanguard.
No they are moving uphill - very, very slowly.

They are now getting real competition from other low cost index fund providers and others using lost leaders. Vanguard's business model "owned by our fund holders" puts constraints on there ability to shift costs from a "money making fund" to others that are less "profitable". A Schwab or a Fidelity do not have the same lack of flexibility. The result it that Vg keeps having to reduce costs and since they have always been low cost about the only place left is payroll.

I had the occasion some months ago to get info on salaries of financial CSRs in the Scottsdale area. Vanguard salaries were about the same as the wages of a union plummer in St Louis. And a plumber's apprentice gets paid while he's going to "school". Makes you stop and think.
Reminds me of the time I had a plumber come to my house on a Sunday to repair a broken pipe. I asked him how much he was going to charge me and couldn't believe his hourly rate. I told him, "I'm a surgeon and I can't charge that much per hour!" To which he replied, "yeah I couldn't either when I was a surgeon." But you, Doc, probably already knew that. :happy
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Allixi »

Just this past week, my wife and I had to submit a copy of two forms of ID, and a notarized Authorization of Agent form for her Traditional/Roth IRA. Now I'm trying to make a contribution for her, and it says I need to send in ANOTHER notarized form to transfer money from a checking account we've already used to make past contributions!! WTH Vanguard, do you want my money or not?!
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heartwood
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

Allixi wrote:Just this past week, my wife and I had to submit a copy of two forms of ID, and a notarized Authorization of Agent form for her Traditional/Roth IRA. Now I'm trying to make a contribution for her, and it says I need to send in ANOTHER notarized form to transfer money from a checking account we've already used to make past contributions!! WTH Vanguard, do you want my money or not?!
As others have mentioned if you set up voice recognition you might be able to do it that way. So many unfortunate glitches in this "upgrade". My daughter did it early for an Advantage checking account and had to file the notarized bank forms all over again. I did it about a month ago also for an advantage brokerage account and did not have to file any new forms. But I did have to re-establish all direct deposits into my account. The mobile check deposit from the smartphone app no longer works (coming before year's end???) and no warning was given. Several links on the summary page no longer work, e.g., check writing. You have to do that through a drop down in the Federal MM listing. Also so much is no longer intuitive. But I'm learning. I told my rep several times that I felt that they took something that worked well for me and gave me several hours (not an exaggeration) of home assignments to get back to where I was. Given the number of accounts I see it as poor planning.
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Kevin M
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Kevin M »

heartwood wrote: <snip> My daughter did it early for an Advantage checking account and had to file the notarized bank forms all over again.
<snip> But I did have to re-establish all direct deposits into my account. The mobile check deposit from the smartphone app no longer works (coming before year's end???) and no warning was given. Several links on the summary page no longer work, e.g., check writing. <snip>
Why not just use a real bank for these kinds of things? I have a Vanguard Advantage account, but never use any of the banking functionality (maybe I did years ago). Good online banks, like Ally Bank, do all of this stuff really well, so it seems to me that the only potential headache relative to this type of functionality is resetting the link to your external bank if it gets broken with the upgrade. Why would you want to hold money in a money market fund paying 0.3% when an online bank account pays 1% or more, especially when you can use the linked bank account for same-day purchases of mutual funds?

I suspect the answer has something to do with minimizing the number of accounts, but with these kinds of headaches that might not be the right goal.

Kevin
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heartwood
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

Kevin M wrote:
heartwood wrote: <snip> My daughter did it early for an Advantage checking account and had to file the notarized bank forms all over again.
<snip> But I did have to re-establish all direct deposits into my account. The mobile check deposit from the smartphone app no longer works (coming before year's end???) and no warning was given. Several links on the summary page no longer work, e.g., check writing. <snip>
Why not just use a real bank for these kinds of things? I have a Vanguard Advantage account, but never use any of the banking functionality (maybe I did years ago). Good online banks, like Ally Bank, do all of this stuff really well, so it seems to me that the only potential headache relative to this type of functionality is resetting the link to your external bank if it gets broken with the upgrade. Why would you want to hold money in a money market fund paying 0.3% when an online bank account pays 1% or more, especially when you can use the linked bank account for same-day purchases of mutual funds?

I suspect the answer has something to do with minimizing the number of accounts, but with these kinds of headaches that might not be the right goal.

Kevin
It works very well for us. Vanguard Advantage has been our primary checking account for many years, probably over two decades. We do have a BOA account as well, but that doesn't serve us as well, primarily for atms and an adjunct to a safe deposit box. Interestingly the EFT link between Vanguard and BOA did not require a refresh, probably because all the push/pulls originate at Vanguard with no change in BOA account numbers. We've tried a couple of online banks several years ago and were unimpressed, except for the better rates.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by akpk »

Instead of printing and mailing update bank designation - i deleted one bank account and re added it. verified the bank deposits by vanguard. It has been over a week and vanguard still says that "vanguard is verifying the bank".i have received two letters from vanguard that new bank has been added. does anyone know how long it takes to add a new bank?
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

In another thread someone mentioned long wait times with the new account upgrades.

In response to that
livesoft wrote: Since Vanguard does not answer the phone on the weekends, I suspect Monday is a big phone day for them. While I call them about once every 20 years years, I would think twice before calling them at the beginning of the week.
I just hung up on Vanguard Brokerage Service after being on hold for 31 minutes and 10 seconds. I respect livesoft's advice but it is now Tuesday not Monday. In order to make this post actionable I am asking for suggestions as to the best time to phone VBS.

Anybody have advice?
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HueyLD
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by HueyLD »

Anybody have advice?
Move your money to a brokerage that provides good customer service?
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Angst »

A couple observations having just executed my first transaction in my newly upgraded Roth IRA brokerage/mutual fund account:

1) When I go to the "Order Status" tab I see a new choice I'd never been given before when either exchanging between or outright purchasing shares in Vanguard mutual funds, namely, a CANCEL link. I hadn't heard that this was part of the upgrade. I guess it's a good feature for the indecisive among us. I'm not sure I really wanted the option but I won't complain.

2) I will however complain about the absence of settlement fund balance info displayed during the purchasing process! Let me start from the top: For the first time (thanks to yesterday's interest payments from my various TIPS) I saw my Federal MM Settlement Fund balance to be something other than $0.00 So, I decided I wanted to put it all into one of my existing Roth mutual funds. I first tried clicking the "Exchange" link next to the MF I wanted to add to, but the listing of my funds that popped up on the left side of the screen to exchange from, showed my settlement account at the top with a $0.00 balance. So I figured that maybe now I'm required to use the "Buy" choice rather than "Exchange"? I tried that next, and again at the top, it shows a zero balance settlement fund. Oh well, ignoring that I scroll down to the fund I want to buy more shares of and enter a dollar amount (even though I don't remember the exact balance in my settlement fund) and then when the right half of the screen opens up it shows my settlement account at the top, with the actual balance in it! (Nice feature) So now I go back to the left side of the screen to correct my first entry with the correct dollar amount available since I want to use all of it.

Anyone have a good explanation for why they don't just show the balance available to trade in the left window? Here's mine:

Vanguard IT... :oops:
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akpk
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by akpk »

Doc wrote:In another thread someone mentioned long wait times with the new account upgrades.

In response to that
livesoft wrote: Since Vanguard does not answer the phone on the weekends, I suspect Monday is a big phone day for them. While I call them about once every 20 years years, I would think twice before calling them at the beginning of the week.
I just hung up on Vanguard Brokerage Service after being on hold for 31 minutes and 10 seconds. I respect livesoft's advice but it is now Tuesday not Monday. In order to make this post actionable I am asking for suggestions as to the best time to phone VBS.

Anybody have advice?
I was the one complaining about 1/2 hour wait on monday (my thread was locked as "rant" ...i got the feeling that bad comments regarding vanguard customer service are not allowed)

unfortunately, only thing we can do is hold for 1/2 hour and hope we get some rep who can help fix our problem.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by livesoft »

Angst wrote:Anyone have a good explanation for why they don't just show the balance available to trade in the left window? Here's mine:
I have always had a more difficult time with Vanguard BS figuring out where my money is in real time. I stopped using ETFs at Vanguard.com for that reason. I only use mutual funds at Vanguard nowadays. Fidelity has also given me problems with real-time updates of where my money is. I don't have those kinds of problems at WellsTrade and TDAmeritrade.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by convert949 »

I have not converted but have recently noticed the upgrade button on my accounts. DW and I have legacy brokerage accounts from when we transferred several "in kind" assets to Vanguard from Ameriprise several years ago. Curiously, hers was automatically upgraded with the new settlement account. Mine is still the old version with the settlement account within my mutual fund account.

I can confirm the back office backlog as well. I recently submitted paperwork to transfer a partial fund balance from my trust account to DW's and was told that it will take up to 23 working days to accomplish the transfer. Our Flagship rep promised to check every couple of weeks until completed.

I have been offered and will surely set up voice recognition prior to considering any change. It seems like an easier way to correct all the glitches that seem to be occurring... Does anyone know if this avoids the backlog? Or, is it just to avoid re-submitting paperwork? :confused
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by by4pm »

Update of my 8/7/16 post.

I finally got around to completing the form to transfer my Vanguard mutual funds into my brokerage account for my Inherited IRA. When I called to confirm the fax number, I was told they could now do it verbally over the phone for my inherited IRA. No form needed. So I said okay.

I may not be able to see the change until Monday or Tuesday. I will let you know what happens.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by sco »

Allixi wrote:Just this past week, my wife and I had to submit a copy of two forms of ID, and a notarized Authorization of Agent form for her Traditional/Roth IRA. Now I'm trying to make a contribution for her, and it says I need to send in ANOTHER notarized form to transfer money from a checking account we've already used to make past contributions!! WTH Vanguard, do you want my money or not?!
I had that today, for an account that we already use to fund our other vanguard accounts. I was told that my wife should have clicked "I accept" or something on the message she got, of course, she didn't get any such message solo.... They wanted the notarized form or to talk to us both...
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by JW-Retired »

DW and I have old style IRAs and a taxable mutual fund account at Vanguard, and a brokerage account at Fidelity. Roughly equal assets at each company. Everything at both vendors has always hummed along without any problem at all. We plan to be among the last to "upgrade" anything at Vanguard. There is no upside for us in the "upgrade" that I can see?

Or, if it looks like there might be any trouble with the upgrade we will just move. Fidelity will be happy with our business and IMO they are easier to work with (as long as you know what you want).
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by4pm
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by by4pm »

Update of my 8/7/16 & 8/26/16 posts.

Well, on my third try I got different information for my Inherited IRA.

I was informed you can't use fax or verbal instructions for Inherited IRA, especially with mutual funds.

As instructed, I am mailing a letter of instruction to consolidate my Inherited IRA mutual find assets into my upgraded brokerage account. I asked them to journal 100% of the mutual fund assets from account # into the Inherited IRA brokerage account #.

I think this is going to work. I will let you know if this doesn't work.

It sounds like there is something unique about inherited IRAs and that verbal instructions might be acceptable for some other types of accounts.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by darkhorse346 »

darkhorse346 wrote:The concerns expressed in this and similar threads gives me pause on upgrading/converting to brokerage accounts at Vanguard.

I worry that the Vanguard brand, which has historically epitomized trust, low-cost investing, and "doing the right things", may be tarnished by these ongoing bureaucratic issues associated with the brokerage upgrading and conversion process.

Personally, I'm holding off on upgrading as long as I can. In addition, I'm evaluating others, e.g., Fidelity, Schwab, et al., that have low-cost investing AND brokerage AND customer service expertise.

The question I ultimately ask myself is who can I trust?
UPDATE: I decided to test the upgrade process with my Roth. It went perfectly. I then upgraded my wife's Roth and IRA RO - same thing, very smooth. We just upgraded our taxable account to brokerage and it went fine. I did have a scare with the last upgrade because it showed a zero balance when I checked it this morning. I sent a message to Vanguard and as soon as I went back to the balances screen, the money was there.

Overall, I think it went well. Takeaway from this, especially if you have multiple accounts: Do one account at a time and check everything after the process is complete.

Good luck.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by robertalpert »

I took the plunge yesterday and upgraded two Roth IRAs, one T-Ira and taxable mutual fund accounts.

The brokerage components were altready upgraded to the new platform by Vanguard. Had recently changed over my checking and direct deposits to the Federal MM. ... The only remaining issue is that of account permissions. So far the old permissions are holding. We'll see how it progresses this coming week.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by drzzzzz »

I upgraded my account to brokerage and my old account and the new brokerage account show up under accounts, but when trying to deposit a mobile check through their app only the old brokerage account shows up - does anyone know what the solution is?
thanks
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

drzzzzz wrote:I upgraded my account to brokerage and my old account and the new brokerage account show up under accounts, but when trying to deposit a mobile check through their app only the old brokerage account shows up - does anyone know what the solution is?
thanks
Mobile check deposit does not currently work in the "upgraded" brokerage system. I used it often with my old Vanguard brokerage Advantage account. I was given no hint of this step back when pressured into upgrading. My flagship rep suggests it might be available by year's end. In the interim he suggested mobile deposit to my BOA checking which is linked to my Van brokerage and then doing an EFT to Vanguard. It's a kluge, but it does work for me.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by drzzzzz »

I still have no ability to use mobile check on my cell phone to deposit a check to a Vanguard brokerage account after their upgrade in October to brokerage accounts. Does anyone know whether Vanguard is planning to fix this issue and when? I would think this should be a high priority for their customers. Thanks
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by acr123 »

With people upgrading to the new brokerage accts has anyone had Quicken and can you explain how this worked. I still have an original SEP IRA and SEP Brokerage as well as a Roth Brokerage and Roth IRA. Everything is working / downloading perfectly in Quicken and I am reluctant to change.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

acr123 wrote:With people upgrading to the new brokerage accts has anyone had Quicken and can you explain how this worked. I still have an original SEP IRA and SEP Brokerage as well as a Roth Brokerage and Roth IRA. Everything is working / downloading perfectly in Quicken and I am reluctant to change.
Thanks,
Al
Just set up your new account in Quicken and download both old and new account data from Vg. There are numerous add/remove pairs that handle all the details including lot information. IIRC everything went smoothly.

(We converted in November 2014 but I don't see why the procedure would have changed. )
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by acr123 »

I do not understand. If the mutual fund and brokerage accts are combined into 1 new account how do you continue to download both old an new information in Quikcen. The problem I see is correctly having the accounts moved since I think in certain circumstances account numbers may change and other times may not. Also there would have to be perfect either moving and / or closing funds in the old accounts and moved to the new combined account.Am I missing something ? I am thinking about the prior Quicken problems just in doing Roth conversions which only involved moving shares from 1 acct type to the other.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by livesoft »

I don't use Quicken (used to), but I do use MS Money. I don't understand why one would want to download old transactions and data. Are they not downloaded already?

For instance, I just did a conversion of shares in-kind to a new Roth IRA. I created the new account in MS Money and transferred shares from the traditional IRA to the new Roth IRA. As far as performance calculations and so on, I did not delete the old account, so I can include it in calculations, but its balance will be zero from now on.

The same procedure takes place if one moves a 401(k) for a new job or whatever. It just seems an upgrade at Vanguard would be similar.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

acr123 wrote:I do not understand. If the mutual fund and brokerage accts are combined into 1 new account how do you continue to download both old an new information in Quikcen.
The last transactions that download from the old account are the transfers to the new account. Quicken records these as shares removed. The new account records the transfer as shares added. Once everything goes to zero in the old account there are no more transactions. It may take a week or two to go completely to zero because of accrued dividends and the like but it will get to zero in a reasonable amount of time.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

drzzzzz wrote:I still have no ability to use mobile check on my cell phone to deposit a check to a Vanguard brokerage account after their upgrade in October to brokerage accounts. Does anyone know whether Vanguard is planning to fix this issue and when? I would think this should be a high priority for their customers. Thanks
When I "upgraded" accounts at various times last year no one mentioned that mobile check deposit wouldn't continue to work. When I asked I was told it would probably be back by year's end 2016. I just sent my rep a secure email asking the status. I'll report back what I hear.

So inconvenient. I mobile deposit to BOA and then EFT to Vanguard.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

@heartwood

What's a check?
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by jhfenton »

Doc wrote:@heartwood

What's a check?
That's usually how I feel. I may write one or two per year, usually for something at our kids' school. But I still manage to receive checks on a semi-regular basis.

I was initially annoyed by the app's mobile deposit feature being broken, but I decided that I don't care. I just mobile deposit the check to our credit union checking account, and then ACH the money to Vanguard. If there were a problem with a mobile deposit--there never has been--I'd prefer to be able to resolve it by walking the check into our credit union branch.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

jhfenton wrote:
Doc wrote:@heartwood

What's a check?
That's usually how I feel. I may write one or two per year, usually for something at our kids' school. But I still manage to receive checks on a semi-regular basis.

I was initially annoyed by the app's mobile deposit feature being broken, but I decided that I don't care. I just mobile deposit the check to our credit union checking account, and then ACH the money to Vanguard. If there were a problem with a mobile deposit--there never has been--I'd prefer to be able to resolve it by walking the check into our credit union branch.
We received a total of 4 checks last year. Three of which were under $100. DW just deposits them at the bank branch in the local supermarket when she does her grocery shopping. I don't belive in using our investment accounts for checking. In case of fraud we have a few thousand at risk in the bank. OK it's all insured. But how long will it take to get reimbursed? And do you want to have your investment accounts frozen while they sort it out?

An extra account or two at local banks is hardly an additional burden. I can have money in those accounts by start of business next business day or even sooner if I want to spring for a wire.

Of course I would also say: "What's a smart phone?" And do they come with a hammer in the same package?
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Sailor36 »

With people upgrading to the new brokerage accts has anyone had Quicken and can you explain how this worked. I still have an original SEP IRA and SEP Brokerage as well as a Roth Brokerage and Roth IRA. Everything is working / downloading perfectly in Quicken and I am reluctant to change.
Thanks,
Al
My experience with the new style brokerage accounts and Quicken has been that until recently the downloads have been pretty seriously broken. Basically the downloaded transactions did not include the Buys and Sells on the Federal MMF settlement account, so I had to edit the transactions and add the settlement account transactions manually. This was fixed for the 2016 year-end dividends, except for reinvested dividends in the settlement account. In that case, it downloads zero for the number of shares purchased, so you still need to edit this transaction to set the number of shares = dollar amount of dividends to make everything balance.
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by bertilak »

Sailor36 wrote:[My experience with the new style brokerage accounts and Quicken has been that until recently the downloads have been pretty seriously broken. Basically the downloaded transactions did not include the Buys and Sells on the Federal MMF settlement account, so I had to edit the transactions and add the settlement account transactions manually. This was fixed for the 2016 year-end dividends, except for reinvested dividends in the settlement account. In that case, it downloads zero for the number of shares purchased, so you still need to edit this transaction to set the number of shares = dollar amount of dividends to make everything balance.
Yes, I noticed that too but forgot about until I saw your post. I started another thread earlier about a problem I have with VG downloads to Quicken investment accounts but forgot to mention this one!

My theory is that Vanguard is not sending the proper OFX data so Quicken can't figure out what to do and (stupidly) marches on blindly.
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jhfenton
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by jhfenton »

Doc wrote:
jhfenton wrote:
Doc wrote:@heartwood

What's a check?
That's usually how I feel. I may write one or two per year, usually for something at our kids' school. But I still manage to receive checks on a semi-regular basis.

I was initially annoyed by the app's mobile deposit feature being broken, but I decided that I don't care. I just mobile deposit the check to our credit union checking account, and then ACH the money to Vanguard. If there were a problem with a mobile deposit--there never has been--I'd prefer to be able to resolve it by walking the check into our credit union branch.
We received a total of 4 checks last year. Three of which were under $100. DW just deposits them at the bank branch in the local supermarket when she does her grocery shopping. I don't belive in using our investment accounts for checking. In case of fraud we have a few thousand at risk in the bank. OK it's all insured. But how long will it take to get reimbursed? And do you want to have your investment accounts frozen while they sort it out?

An extra account or two at local banks is hardly an additional burden. I can have money in those accounts by start of business next business day or even sooner if I want to spring for a wire.

Of course I would also say: "What's a smart phone?" And do they come with a hammer in the same package?
I agree with you on the extra accounts and added layers of security. For similar reasons, I don't use or even carry my ATM/debit card unless I'm withdrawing money at the ATM. After my wife and I separately had our debit cards cloned within a few months, I decided that I prefered to have a credit card number at risk in the wild rather than something tied to my bank account.

I do like my tech, though, as you can tell from my (company-issued) iPhone, iPad, Apple Watch, and computers (Mac and Windows). :beer
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Doc
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by Doc »

Sailor36 wrote:My experience with the new style brokerage accounts and Quicken has been that until recently the downloads have been pretty seriously broken. Basically the downloaded transactions did not include the Buys and Sells on the Federal MMF settlement account, so I had to edit the transactions and add the settlement account transactions manually.
Been on the new platform since November 2014 and never noticed the problem. Maybe because I treat all MM funds at our various accounts as cash. I just change the ReinDiv to Div and go on. When I'm on VG's site I uncheck the "show MM transaction" box.

If you go to the "Balances" tab on Quicken's Online Center report the "cash" entry is the sum of MM account and "trade day balances" and that the is the number I need to reconcile the account.

What is a PITA is that transaction don't post until settlement day (or maybe even the next BD after settlement.)
A scientist looks for THE answer to a problem, an engineer looks for AN answer and lawyers ONLY have opinions. Investing is not a science.
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heartwood
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

Doc wrote:@heartwood

What's a check?
Obviously my mileage varies from yours. On a personal level I get a few/several checks a year and never go to the bricks and mortar so mobile deposit is a boon v. USPS or an ATM. I could live with that or just mobile check deposit to BOA which I do.

I also have an LLC that gets 6 or more larger checks a year. The LLC checking is a separate account at Vanguard in the LLC's name. I need to deposit those funds at Vanguard and write against the balance. Mobile deposit to BOA and EFT to Vanguard adds a several days to funds accessibility (1st at BOA and then at Vanguard) and could be dicey since the BOA account is in my name and the checks are to the LLC. The LLC account did have mobile check deposit available for years prior to the "upgrade."

My accounts were updated over 6 months ago. There was no warning that mobile check deposit would not continue to work. Most banks have mobile check deposit; Vanguard had mobile check deposit. Must be rocket surgery, since Vanguard with its associated size, number of accounts, and ability to hire the best vendors needs about a year to duplicate what they had, and most other financial orgs still have.

I received an answer from my Vanguard rep along the lines of they had problems with the mobile checking function after the switch to brokerage. Then the vendor for the software had problems; they went with a new vendor. Expected availability of mobile deposit for brokerage accounts was now suggested as within 2Q17. The last time I asked in mid 2016 it was "before year's end 2016." Maybe they should outsource the project?
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heartwood
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by heartwood »

Grrrr!

Vanguard Mobile Check Deposit still doesn't work. It stopped mid-last year when I upgraded my Advantage (brokerage) account. I've used a kluge to deposit checks to our LLC first to our personal BOA checking using the BOA mobile deposit and then EFT to the actual LLC account at Vanguard.

I got a check in our LLC's name yesterday that exceeds in a single check the $10,000/month mobile deposit that BOA allows. BOA won't deposit it at the bank since its not to a named party on the account.

So I have to mail it to Vanguard but I had no Vanguard deposit tickets. I decide to check the address I have for mail deposits so I can send the check with an instruction transmittal letter. After failing online I called Vanguard, got an address, and then asked to be sent some deposit tickets. I was told they don't use them anymore. Can that possibly be true? I asked again for clarity and was told to send the check along with a letter. No deposit tix anymore?

I asked that the rep again express my frustration to management in the lack of mobile deposit. It's been over a year. She said there's no date she knows of but that it's a high priority. I snarkily answered "it must be on the second page."

I spent over an hour and a trip to the bank and I still have to mail the check to Vanguard, have it arrive and process and then clear.

I want to go on but enough of the rant.
drzzzzz
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Re: Vanguard upgrading to Brokerage account comes with some nuisances

Post by drzzzzz »

I haven't provided deposit slips with checks for awhile now - I have just been writing the account number on the check. I also asked them to send me prepaid envelopes since I still deposit some things into my vanguard account which I would have using mobile check deposit in the past. The sad part is that they have known about mobile check not working for at least a year now and whenever I speak to my representative he says they are working on it with no timeline available when it might be available again.
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